NEW YORK, NEW YORK, May 24, 2002: Investigators arrested the first Roman Catholic priest yesterday to be charged in New York based on the old case files that the church recently turned over to sex-abuse prosecutors, according to this article in the New York Times. The priest, the Rev. Francis X. Nelson, 38, was handcuffed near his Harlem church and charged with molesting a 12-year-old girl at her home in Brooklyn three years ago. The church officials supervising the priest had been aware of the allegations in 1999 and considered them credible, but he was allowed to transfer from Brooklyn to the Archdiocese of New York, where officials say they first learned of the accusation on Wednesday. Father Nelson was charged with two counts of sexual abuse in the second degree and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanor charges that each carry a penalty of up to one year in prison, the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said. Father Nelson is a native of India. Catholic diocese officials investigated the allegation three years ago. They did not believe Father Nelson’s denial and ordered him out of the diocese, said a spokesman for the diocese, Frank DeRosa. On July 21, 1999, Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn told Father Nelson’s bishop in India, Leon A. Tharmaraj, of his decision, Mr. DeRosa said. Bishop Tharmaraj, of the Diocese of Kottar in the region of Tamil Nadu, happened to be in New York and agreed to Father Nelson’s departure, the spokesman said. Three days after meeting with Bishop Daily, Bishop Tharmaraj signed a document declaring Father Nelson in good standing and free of allegations, said Joseph Zwilling, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York. The document is necessary for priests to work in a diocese not their own. Further, Mr. Zwilling said that St. Mary’s pastor, Thomas Doyle, wrote a letter on Aug. 3 “attesting to his good character and his good work in the parish, with no indication of any difficulties.”
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